Journalling can be a really important part of your therapy. I encourage everyone I work with to keep a journal if they can. As your therapy progresses your journal can become another space, as well as the therapeutic hour, to record and witness feelings, dreams, hopes, thoughts, troubles or memories the list is endless. If counselling is about a journey of self discovery for you then a journal can act like a mirror to help you focus and open up channels to explore deeper into yourself and help you to discover who you really are. I’ll write more about this later but Carl Jung describes this process and calls it individuation. Maria von Franz in Man and his Symbols says
The actual process of individuation-the conscious coming-to-terms with one’s own inner centre (psychic nucleus) or Self-generally begins with a wounding of the personality and the suffering that accompanies it. This initial shock amounts to a sort of “call”, although it is not always recognised as such. P.166
If you do decide to keep a journal think about the form it’s going to take. Is it going to be hand written? Are you going to buy a book with blank pages or is it going to be a folder made up of bits and pieces. Is it going to be made up with written words or images? Are you going to draw or collage? Maybe it will be digital notes or voice notes kept on your phone or laptop. There is not a right way, only an opportunity to experiment, to find out what feels right for you. As your creation takes on shape it becomes an expression of who you are in the moment.
Ask yourself where are you going to keep your journal . If you are uncomfortable with people finding or reading it then think about that. Does it need to be locked away or password protected? Do you want to create then shred the work once it’s done. The goal is simply to make time to tune into what you are feeling in the moment you don’t have to keep it forever.
The key to this type of journal is not to look outward for inspiration but inward. A journal is not meant to be a diary that records events from your life. Its intention should be to help you focus and explore your inner world. If you are discussing things that are happening in life ie things you are finding difficult, focus more on how are you feeling about the situation rather than recording what is happening.
Some simple prompts to get you started could be ask yourself what are you struggling with right now? What are you hoping to get from therapy? How do you feel opening up and talking about yourself? Do you find yourself ruminating about the past and mistakes you have made? Do you feel like somehow you are not good enough? Do you feel different or apart from people.? Are you often caught up with catastrophising about things that might happen? A journal can also be a great place to vent your feelings or worries, all the day to day stuff that fills up your head space, worries re your job, fears of how you appear to the world. Writing worries down can really help by acknowledging your feelings and help you begin to process them. Really though anything goes just record your feelings and thoughts about yourself and your life. You can record your dreams in this journal too although if you really looking for immersing yourself in dream work you might want to keep a separate journal just to record your dreams. I’ll write more about that later.
On a final note remember you can’t get it wrong or do it incorrectly it’s not meant to be brilliant or polished it’s simply a safe space for you to express yourself.
If you get really into journaling I like Julia Cameron’s Book The Artists’s Way. She encourages the discipline of morning pages of writing three pages every day. There is lots in this book that would run well alongside your therapy if you are looking at encouraging your creative talents.